Continuing its efforts to improve coverage of religion around the world, ICFJ has launched a two-year program for American and international journalists who cover religious issues. By improving professional skills and increasing the dialogue around religion, ICFJ hopes to encourage journalists to engage the subject more openly and free of bias, and simultaneously more respectfully and critically.

The program is designed to:

• Improve U.S. and global reporting on social issues related to religion;

• Facilitate quality coverage that better educates the American public about the role and nature of religion in cultural, political and economic realms, and ensures that policymakers have the resources to make informed decisions on these issues; and

• Provide a strengthened professional body that gives global journalists the resources, skills and support they need to be a respected voice on religious issues in their nations.

The program activities will include:

1. TWO ONLINE COURSES

International Coverage of Gender, Health, Education and Religion
This course would bring together international journalists to critically examine the portrayal of women in religion, and explore related issues of health and education. Expanding media understanding of the reality of the breadth and diversity of the role of women in religion, and opening up their vistas to the critical role religion plays in shaping health and education policies, can have a profound social impact on nations throughout the world.

Coverage of Religion and Global Politics
This course would bring together the most up-to-date research and reporting with a select group of international journalists committed to working together in dialogue to provide fair and accurate coverage of the people, beliefs, policies and practices shaping the political life of nations throughout the world.

2. LUCE OVERSEAS RELIGION REPORTING FELLOWSHIPS

ICFJ will facilitate and provide mentorship for international joint reporting projects, including a joint orientation program in Washington, D.C., for six U.S. and six international journalists.

ICFJ’s goal is to improve global journalists’ reporting skills and significantly expand and enhance the resulting coverage of social and religious issues. Throughout the process, journalists would build important relationships among themselves, establish useful linkages with academics and reach policymakers personally and through their reporting.

This program is made possible by the support of the Henry Luce Foundation.